2 Apr 2016

Liverpool are up to ninth place in the Premier league tonight after a 1-1 home draw with Spurs, and after the game, ex-Red Jamie Redknapp hailed the performance of rejuvenated Reds attacker Adam Lallana.

Analysing the game on Sky Sports, Redknapp raved^:

"Liverpool's Adam Lallana was fantastic, and I thought he was the Man-of-the-Match".

Lallana had a good game, but the man-of-the-match award must surely go the player who has the most impact on the game, and in my view, Philippe Coutinho had a better game than Lallana, and the stats support this:

* Lallana: No goals/assists. Two shots. Created 1 chance. 2 tackles. No blocks, interceptions, or clearances. Won 17% of aerial duels.

Stats: OPTA

Lallana is in the midst of a good run of form, but Coutinho clearly had a significantly bigger game-changing impact, and if Sturridge had buried the first half one-on-one with Lloris - created by Coutinho's sublime through-ball - then Liverpool's might've won the game.

Several Spurs players were also in the running (Dembele, and Alderweireld, for example), but from a Liverpool perspective, Dejan Lovren also deserves to be in the man-of-the-match conversation. The Croatian had an impressive game, and save for being done in the box by Harry Kane, he didn't put a foot wrong.